"A fancy dress party is just that, dressing up as famous or infamous figures from history or fantasy – the point being, that they are recognisable as such."

And unless I'm pretty much mistaken (and I'm sure some councillors read this and will tell me if I'm wrong) there's no great list of 'People You Must Never, Ever Dress Up As, Even In Your Own Time'. Is there?

Conservative Party headquarters said he had been suspended pending an investigation into his conduct.

They will, of course, have relied upon some woolly rule about 'not bringing the party or council into disrepute by your behaviour' which, frankly, is so vaguely worded and open to subjective reasoning that it might as well say 'Don't do anything we don't like, and we'll decide what we don't like, even after the fact'....

Not that anyone involved comes out too well:

The images were taken from a Facebook page, which Mr Gardner said was a "total violation of my privacy".

/facepalm

Mike, unless the administrators of your Facebook page followed you to this party, encouraged you to pose for the camera and then posted it up under your account, there's only one person responsible for this.

This, of course, is why nothing ever gets done in this country. There's too much activity spent on nonsense like this.

I'm actually quite glad that Mike is now suffering the same indignation that I did when he supported his various teams of self serving cunts printing my name on the front page of the Harrogate Advertiser calling me a rapist. So, from Mike to Mike, you reap what you sow you nazi twat!

To be fair to the man it said "a facebook page" not his facebook page. And yes the whole thing is not only an example of the stupidity of standards systems (and my party's lily-livered nature) but without doubt a delibarate attempt to undermine the individual concerned.

of course he probably isn't a nazi at all, and that’s the point btw. I agree Julia, I'd prefer to see politicians hauled over the coals for failing in their political duties and responsibilities not as they, celebrities and in my experience joe public are for things that they are not but could be made to appear to be.

when exactly did it stop mattering to not only the public, which are easily led at the best of times, but to the authorities the difference between fact and fiction, innocent and guilty? because the simple consequence it seems to me if we continue to focus on the most popular cause of the moment regardless of facts is that serious issues remain unaddressed and worse become compounded while an industry of self serving twats are feed on the gullibility of the people and the abject blindness of systems and authorities we pay to protect us.

My personal view is that, as we now all live in a namby-pamby, politically-correct, all-too-easy-to-take-offence, infantilised and pathetic society, he should have had more fucking sense - he should have known that some twat or other was going to plaster it all over the press.